1st ABS challenge in All-Star Game results in Skubal strikeout of Machado

ATLANTA -- It didn’t take long for the ABS challenge system to find its way into Tuesday night’s All-Star Game, won by the National League, 7-6, after an unprecedented swing-off.

With one out in the bottom of the first, Cal Raleigh challenged an 0-2 pitch to Manny Machado, an 89.5 mph changeup from American League starter Tarik Skubal that home plate umpire Dan Iassogna called a ball.

Raleigh tapped on his helmet just seconds before Skubal did the same, a sign that both the pitcher and catcher felt they deserved the punchout.

As the two players -- who were both mic’d up for the FOX broadcast -- watched the replay on the video board in center field, Skubal asked Raleigh, “What do you think, Cal, how’d you do?”

Raleigh replied, “I think it’s a strike.”

He was right. The call was overturned, sending Machado back to the dugout on what was now a called third strike.

“Hey, you take ‘em any way you can get ‘em, boys!” Skubal said.

This year marked the debut of the ABS challenge system in the Midsummer Classic. Major League Baseball, which began testing the system at levels of the Minor Leagues since 2021 and instituted it at Triple-A in 2022, used the ABS challenge system during Spring Training earlier this year.

"I thought it was great," NL manager Dave Roberts said of the system. "I think that [home-plate umpire] Dan [Iassogna] got a lot of the calls right. There was a couple that were overturned. I thought it was great. The fans enjoy it. I thought the players had fun with it. And there's a strategy to it, if it does get to us during the season. But I like it. I think it's good for the game."

The All-Star Game used the same ABS challenge rules that were in place during Spring Training, giving each team two challenges, which they can retain if they are successful. Challenges can only be initiated by a pitcher, catcher or batter.

Although it was Raleigh who called for the challenge, Skubal appeared ready to do so himself despite saying Monday that he didn’t plan on using any challenges.

“Honestly, I wasn't even going to use them, but I felt like that was a strike,” Skubal said after exiting the game, having allowed two runs on three hits in the first three at-bats of the game. “You want that in an 0-2 count, especially with the way the inning was going, the ball kind of finding a lot of grass. I think [ABS] is coming. Whether players like it or not, it's going to come, so might as well get used to it.”

Prior to the game, Skubal and Raleigh didn’t discuss how they planned to approach any potential challenges, though the pitcher said he contemplated a plan to make them a moot point.

“I was joking around that I was going to burn two of them on the first balls, just so that way we didn't have them the rest of the game,” Skubal said.

It’s a good thing for the AL that Skubal didn’t follow through with that plan, as Jacob Wilson challenged a call in the top of the fifth after Iassogna called a strike on a 1-0 fastball from MacKenzie Gore.

Wilson won his challenge when the replay showed the pitch to be 1.3 inches below the strike zone. The AL finished the night 3-for-3 in challenges after Alejandro Kirk challenged a call in the bottom of the ninth, getting a reversal on an Aroldis Chapman pitch to Brendan Donovan that was initially called a ball before being overturned.

Kyle Stowers and Edwin Díaz challenged calls for the National League. Stowers asked for a review of a called third strike to end the eighth inning. Unlike the two AL challenges, this call was upheld, confirming Andres Muñoz’s strikeout. Díaz challenged a ball called against Randy Arozarena on an 0-2 pitch in the top of the ninth, and the call was overturned to a called strike for the third out.